Sunday was a lounging around and beach day for us so that we would be ready for a full day in Copenhagen on Monday.

Although we already knew that Monday is not the best day to visit Copenhagen because most of the museums are closed on that day, we were undeterred because this was to be a reconnoitering expedition.

We took the Lokalbanen 920R train from the nearby Dyssekilde station and transferred in Hillerød to the DSB S-Tog E line into Copenhagen. The trip took a little under 2 hours. Here we are arriving in the big city:

Our plan was to take one of the canal boat tours in the morning in order to see Copenhagen first from the water and then to walk up to two vantage points in the afternoon for an aerial view.

We found the canal boat tours on the Slotsholms Kanal that surrounds Slotsholmen, an island housing the Danish Parliament (in Christiansborg Slot) and several museums and other public buildings, including the Børse, Denmark’s first stock exchange.

Here’s a view of the canal; Slotsholmen is on the right.

The boat ride was advertised as having narration in both Danish and English, but we discovered right away that the tour was going to be heavily weighted in favor of the Danes. As we proceeded down the Slotsholms Kanal, our guide went on for several minutes in Danish, then switched to English, informing us – and this is the sum total of what he said – that, “On your right is the Børse, the Danish Stock Exchange, etcetera, etcetera.”

Really, that’s what he said, “etcetera, etcetera.” No explanation, no description, no 5-minute dialogue like he did in Danish; just, “etcetera, etcetera.”

Anyway, here’s what we saw on the boat tour of the canals and Copenhagen Harbor as we flipped through our guide book, trying to figure out what things were:

First, the Copenhagen entries to the Sandskulptur Festival (the companion to the one we walked through in Hundested Harbor),…

…some warehouses turned into residences,…

…the royal yacht,…

…an old crane used to step masts in sailing vessels and some kind of old military installation,…

…the Copenhagen Opera House,…

…and the backside of the Little Mermaid (she’s up there on top of the rock). Frankly, I liked this view better than the one we would have gotten from the land. I always enjoy taking pictures of throngs of people taking pictures and this one has the bonus of the girl in the red sweater striking a Little Mermaid pose.

After the boat ride was over, we were walking down the Slotsholms Kanal as our boat, loaded with a fresh group of tourists, came by. I got a two-fer: a picture of our boat; and an ingenious beach bar barge, complete with sand, sunbathers, lounge chairs and palm tree.

I bet that would go over big in our part of the world, too.